Aug 26, 2017

Recently I've been off after having surgery to get my gallbladder removed (NOT FUN) but have finally been starting to feel better generally and able to get up to some crafting. I hadn't realized how ill and stressed I've been this year with all the gallbladder issues until I thought about when the last time I'd done some crafting was! It had been a long time! I ended up playing around with some paints and some scrapbooking stickers I had and made this canvas. I also sealed it with Mod Podge to keep the letters on with somewhat bumpy results. :( However, good enough, and I may actually take this to work and put it on my desk for those no good very bad days. I also did a huge overhaul of my craft room and got rid of so many things. I'm almost at the point where I can find everything that I need to do many types of projects and actually reach my sewing machine, so things are feeling a lot more creatively possible around here lately.

Dec 2, 2015

It's been ages since I've blogged again, but I do still want to use this space to keep track of some of my projects and to help give me a creative boost when I need one! So I'll try to pop in and at least share some of the projects I've done or have been working on.

Here's a quilt that my mom and I made together. It's a string quilt, which uses scraps of material cut into strips. We tried to keep to a palette of browns and oranges and greens and tans mostly,and used the blue strips in the middle to tie everything together. My mom is a serious quilter, so we had lots of variety to choose from.

This was a fun and easy quilt to do, just a lot of sewing, as it's a sew as you go quilt. Basically, this means that you start with a square of plain fabric and sew all the strips onto the square, trim it and then sew all the bigger blocks together. Then you sandwich the quilt tip, batting and backing together, sew and turn. We did a few hand-stitched x'es to tack the quilt top to the backing and we were done! It was a huge job and SO much ironing and sewing though, but given that we used a flannel sleep inside instead of batting, this quilt is so warm, and just the right size to curl up with on the couch.

Here's a good string quilt tutorial if you're interested in making your own-just looking at the pictures makes me want to make another one!

Jan 27, 2015

So, let's face it, my daily posts fizzled already, like many New Year's resolutions. If it makes you (and me) feel better, I am keeping up with my daily journal entries in my Happiness project journal. Here's a bit of an update on what I've been up to lately-I could try to play catch up, but I can't really be bothered, if I'm being honest. Some ideas seem like they'd be an inspiring challenge and end up just taking away from the time you have to enjoy your day and just aren't worth it. At any rate, wanting to post more on this space did encourage me to take a few more pictures than I usually would have, so enjoy those at least!

READING all the books lately! I just finished the Rosie Project, the Rosie Effect and Water for Elephants in the last few days. Suffice it to say, I haven't been sleeping much, but it's been worth it! If you've guessed that I was that kid in the playground reading a book, you'd be right.

CLEANING and organizing all the things still. I'm not quite up to date with all my January Cure tasks, but some parts of the apartment are feeling a bit more tidy and organized. My fridge has organizing bins in it and our storage room now has a shelf! This makes me happier than you'd think it would. I have even been doing the dishes, sometimes more than once in a day!

WANTING to have more time to draw. I got a new notebook and some new Sharpies, and I am having lots of fun doing some doodles. Everything looks nicer in black pen.

WEARING the same old duds. I am out of inspiration for winter fashions or not wearing the same sweater every day for comfy warmth.

WATCHING so much Friends on Netflix that all the friends are starting to visit my dreams. Well, mostly Chandler. Meow!

STARTING some more volunteer jobs. I hope that all of this time I'm spending will be worth it in the form of new opportunities in the future.

CONSIDERING some big decisions, I'm not sure if right now will be the right time, but I think I'm ready.

ATTENDING some super fun driver's training. This will be the year I get my G2 driver's license, and this seems to be the fastest way to do it. At this rate, I can take my test in June if I'm ready.

COOKING lots of yummy food. I made a great tofu, sweet potato, bok choy and zucchini stir fry, yummy refried bean tacos and some delicious spaghetti with goat cheese lately.

FEELING tired after those late nights of reading. Looking forward to cuddling up in bed tonight!

ANGRY at the evil laundry room door for locking early and trapping my comforter in the dryer

WORKING on all the things and probably a bit too much. Somehow I have three or four jobs and a number of volunteer jobs going on at the moment. Story of my life really- I'm an over-committer. My plate is feeling full, but mostly manageable at the moment.

DREAMING of some crafts I want to tackle someday soon.

WANTING to see my family and celebrate us some Christmas! I was planning to make it up to Peterborough in January, but this is clearly not going to happen. February sometime it is.

DRINKING so much tea and coffee lately to keep warm. Caffeine headaches, I am sick of you.

I'm a bit behind on my January Cure, but I'm still chugging away at the assignments. For assignment #5, Pick a Project, I thought long and hard about which project I can reasonably tackle this month and actually get done. The space I most want to deal with is my craft room, but I know realistically that it's the biggest project on my list and that I'll never get everything organized as I'd like.

See this great big window and awesome view we have out to the park? It's great and I love looking out the window onto the park, but this window is just calling out for some curtains to get hung up! I have the curtains and the rod, but it hasn't translated into the curtains actually getting put up.

The reason I picked this project is that not having these silly curtains up has actually been stopping us from having an event we want to have at our place, a Sunday morning brunch and cartoon-watching party. Although it isn't as bright out in the winter, not having curtains can sort of hinder a marathon of TV-watching!

So, my project for this month will be to get out the the power drill and get these curtains up on the window! It's a little thing, but it will make a big difference to our living room space. Wish me luck!